Any precise values on mpg or £/mile on Duetto

Hi,

At the moment I've got a Nissan Elgrand campervan, which is petrol and pretty thirsty. I'm thinking of either getting it converted to LPG, or maybe upgrading entirely to something like a diesel Duetto or Symphony.

Does anyone have any precise values on the mpg or £/mile that these actually get so I can compare?

This is the kind of thing I've put together to get accurate values for myself on the Elgrand, so ignoring a few bad datapoints I get something very close to 20mpg, and then the £/m goes from there...

I know that diesel would be better, but it'd be useful to get some good values on how much better and how it compares to LPG.

There are some precise figures on the Auto-Sleeper Owners' Club website but you have to be a member to access them and have to own an Auto-Sleeper before you can join.

You could expect anything from 25 to 30 mpg with the Duetto being slightly more economic but of course in motorhomes the biggest impact on economy is the weight you carry and the second, what you do with your right foot!

I run a 2908 MWB Transit Mk7 based PVC with 110PS engine. It probably weighs about the same, when loaded, as a Duetto of a similar age. My best thankful was 34.4mpg and my worst 29.8. Average is running at 31.6mpg.

2908 should read 2008 obvs.

On my 2000 (W reg) Duetto with a 2.5l diesel engine I am getting around 28 mpg. I keep a log of the mileage/fuel added at each top up and run it though short program. Total figures for just under 2 years below.

total miles=  7585 total litres=1196.43 overall mpg=28.82 overall l/100km 9.86

Dave

We have had two Duettos, the first was on a non-turbo 1999 MK5 Transit and over 80,000 miles and 7 years we averaged 34.4 mpg. The second was on a MK7 Transit and over 6 years we averaged 34.2 mpg.

The surprise to us in the above figures being that the 2.5 litre non-turbo was only 0.2 mpg better than the 2.4 litre turbo machine (which was much faster).

Both vehicles were used abroad and have been to the North Cape of Norway and over all the 9000 ft Alpine passes, so have had a varied use.

28mpg is the worst I've had over the 3000 mile of hills, dales and motorways. W reg 2.5 turbo Duetto LE carrying a good bit of kit.
Previous  2.0 1998 petrol model struggled to top 20mpg over 10,000 miles.

Motorhome/Campervan MPG isn't really anything to worry about, unless you do unusually high mileage. The average is about 3000 miles a year. At 20mpg that's 150 gallons, at 30mpg it's 100 gallons and at 40mpg it's 75 gallons. So at 20mpg it'll cost around £900, at 30mpg around £600 and 40mpg about £485. The often mentioned 28mpg will cost just over £600 a year and 32mpg about £550. A difference of £1 a week.

There are much more expensive items in running a motorhome than fuel.

My feelings exactly Andy.

If you want to go to a certain place, the fuel required to get there is a non-negotiable item . . . except for the influence of the right boot as Peter suggested earlier. (In essence, you either go or you don't!)

Plus or minus 5mph makes a massive difference to fuel economy when pushing a great slab of motorhome through the air.

Try holding up a comparatively tiny 4 foot square of hardboard against even a gentle breeze!!

The recent comments are spot on. Reading this thread, it doesn't seem to matter what diesel engine is powering the motorhome, the laws of physics dictate that to move a non-aerodynamic lump weighing upwards of 3 tons at speeds required to keep up with other traffic needs a certain amount of energy. This seems to equate to 28 to 32 mpg.
This fits in with my experiences over 10 years and 40,000 miles of Nuevo ownership. I don't keep a detailed log, but always note the miles covered between fill ups on our long trips, and surprise surprise, the average has never varied from 30mpg.
Al.

Spot on Al , from personal experience of driving most  models of Transit over 30 odd  years generally  heavily laden / very heavily laden.. I got around 29-34 mpg doing around 60 thousand miles in each before change . This was on  swb regular roof height Transit vans with 'spirited' driving. Yes successive vans had more powerful diesels /performance but mpg hardly changed.   As Scotty says - ye canny change the laws of physics Jim!

We get about 30mpg on our N reg Duetto.

Booms81
the 2.5 transit with what people in the trade called the banana engine was the best of fords engines .I had vans on contract that went up to 4 time round the clock. this was the most reliable van in my time in the trade made by ford . the 2.5 before the banana engine would at best do 30 mpg. but the banana engine up to 35mpg (this is 4 curved inlet manifold pipes that go over the rocker cover)